Race and Gender in U.S. Immigration Policy: Mothers Seeking Asylum at the U.S.-Mexico Border
Central American mothers face insurmountable obstacles to be recognized as refugees in the U.S. and face different legal and border enforcement challenges than other migrant populations. While existing scholarship explores Central American asylum-seeking mothers’ experiences with laws and institutions inside the U.S., it does not capture how U.S. immigration policy shapes such experiences beyond the U.S.-Mexico border. Sociologist Carla Salazar Gonzalez will examine the consequences of the Department of Homeland Security’s Migrant Protection Protocols program, which orders asylum-seekers to wait in Mexico during their immigration proceedings, on Central American asylum-seeking mothers. She will conduct interviews and participant observation for her study.